Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the
library's online catalog:
http://www.library.ucsf.edu/ .

Information for Researchers

Access

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

Copyright has not been assigned to the UCSF Library and Center for Knowledge Management. All requests for
permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Manager of Archives and
Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the UCSF Library and Center for
Knowledge Management as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of
the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Copyright restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Healing Alternatives Foundation Records, MSS 94-55, The UCSF Library and Center for
Knowledge Management, Archives and Special Collections, University of California, San Francisco.

Alternate Forms Available

There are no alternate forms of this collection.

Related Collections

Guerilla Clinic Records, MSS 90-12

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public
access catalog.

AIDS (Disease)--United States--History

Community Foundations

AIDS activists--United States

Healing Alternatives Foundation

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

The Healing Alternatives Foundation Records were donated to the UCSF Library 1994.

System of Arrangement

Arranged to the folder level.

Processing Information

Processed by Bill Walker, Robin Chandler, and Josue Hurtado.

Organizational History

Healing Alternatives Foundation (HAF) was formed as a "buyer's club" in April of 1987 in direct response to the
need for access to treatment information and products. It was founded with the belief that HIV/AIDS can be a
treatable, chronic disease requiring both early preventative measures and aggressive treatment of opportunistic
infections. That philosophy is accompanied by the conviction that people with HIV should become informed about
and involved with their own program of treatment and that treatment options should be both available and
affordable.

By pooling resources, founders were able to develop direct services to people with AIDS, who join HAF in order
to purchase materials at bulk prices. By 1993, membership was around 6,000 and was growing steadily. Members
come to HAF for information about treatments, access to various low-cost products, and the opportunity to share
with other members. HAF also maintains an extensive library on HIV, human immunity, and alternative healing
practices and therapeutics.

Scope and Content of Collection

This collection documents both this particular organization and the phenomena of buyer's clubs, which have been
a major source of unapproved medications and other treatment modalities since the mid-1980s. Among the documents
in the first folder of the collection is one from 1986 titled "Federally Unapproved Medications for the
Treatment of AIDS and ARC; How to Get Them, How to Bring Them Home, and How to Use Them." This is an overview of
how these substances were originally obtained, with a description of how to buy drugs in Mexico and deal with
border crossings ("...look as ordinary as possible; consider it a new type of drag").

The folder titled "Photographs" contains eight snapshots of unidentified HAF members from about 1986 displaying
products recently obtained on a run to Mexico. The folder labeled "FDA and 1992 ddC Incident" contains
documentation of a 1992 FDA sampling and testing of ddC tablets purchased from HAF. These document a particular
investigation and HAF's response to it, but they also reveal the attitude and approach of the FDA and its
relationship with buyer's clubs in general. The final two folders indicate the range of products available in
1992 and how particular products were ordered.